Teaching Children to Never Give Up On Their Dreams [Monsters University]

My husband and I have been married for over 15 years.  We were married at a young age and spent the first 12 years of our life together working hard to realize our dreams.  We were finishing college, buying a home, working towards career goals, and starting a family.  Our kids were too young to understand a lot of the challenges we faced at the time.  Now that they are older, most of the big life goals we set for ourselves have been reached and we have shifted our focus towards helping our kids learn to work for their own dreams.  If we didn't share our experiences with our kids, they might assume that all of the things we enjoy now came easily for us.  They wouldn't know about the mornings that started at 4am, student teaching all day, then heading to work in the evening, followed by a drive back to campus for night classes so that I could graduate early, all while pregnant!  But we want them to know that we worked hard to reach our goals, so we do share our stories with them.

In addition to sharing our own stories, we like to share the stories of other peoples with them as well.  Stories of people who didn't give up.  For my older children these examples take the shape of stories about real people like Helen Keller and Albert Einstein.  For my younger kids, we use books like The Little Engine That Could and movies like Monsters University to teach the same message.

We originally went to see Monsters University because we knew it would be funny, but we will watch the movie over and over again because it is a great story about the importance of believing in yourself.  You might have to take a path that you didn't plan, but that doesn't mean you should give up on your dreams.  Life isn't always going to be fair, but you can still reach your goals.  Mike studied and worked hard, but he was still kicked out of the MU School of Scaring, but he found another way to make his dream a reality.  He persevered!

Do you have a favorite story you like to share with your kids about perseverance?  Leave a comment with an example of how you believe in yourself and achieve your dreams and you will be entered to win a $50 Visa Gift Card and a Monsters University Blu-ray Combo Pack.  Monsters University will be available on Digital HD 10/8 & Blu-ray™ Combo Pack 10/29.

 Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
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This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 10/3/13 – 11/3/13.
Be sure to visit the Monsters University Page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!